Approximately 300 meters from where the patrols were was a black-clad figure watching from the roof of a building.

His line of sight followed the straight road and watched as the advance guards took on waves of raybeasts while the rear guards supported them.

From time to time, the raybeasts would turn their attention toward the people protecting the buildings, but they would use the energy coming from their foster to protect their fellow students, while the two rearguards would use their range-mode foster and skill to eliminate the threat.

Although the teams were made on the spot, they did a good job fighting against the raybeasts.

As for their ranks…

He held up a card made out of white paper in front of his eyes as he looked at his two siblings. Immediately after, mysterious characters appeared except for that one part.

Theirs was a rank just one step away from being called elite. At least, based on the common sense here.
Young as they were, they still had plenty of room to grow, so their future was surely bright.
He couldn’t figure out what their Mind stat was with this method, but he could guess that it was probably above average.
Heaving a sigh of relief, he put the card away.

It looks a bit different from the practice combat I saw during the day, though.
Maybe it’s because Garesto’s weapons were originally made to deal with raybeasts.

It might also have something to do with them being restricted from using powerful weapons.

He could hear them even from this distance by controlling the wind with magic, and from that, he knew that while fighting within the city, what they prioritized was not firepower but protecting the people and the buildings.

It seems that even if the world changes that alone wouldn’t.

And those are weapon skills, huh… No wonder they all ‘suck’.
Since they can just rely on their weapons to move their body for them, anyone can become a soldier, but consequently, the odds of a powerful warrior being born becomes extremely low.
Well, I’m sure any nation or world would prefer easily mass produced soldiers.

Garesto was a world filled with monsters one couldn’t talk to.
What a world like that needed wasn’t a powerful warrior but an army of soldiers who could fight.
It was because of that that they built their skill system.
That ended up being a good deal for him, though.

So that practice combat I watched must’ve been meant for fighting in the fields, and while the people themselves were the ones using the foster, the one moving their body was actually the foster?
No wonder they seemed oddly reckless.

Not only were they using equipment meant to fight raybeasts against fellow humans, they were even relying on the machine to fight for them. On top of that, it was the humans who were deciding when to use the skills. It would have been strange if the gears could actually match given those conditions.

The machine might be able to fix their movements to some extent, but it can’t completely cover for them. Depending on their movements and timing, there are times when it’s just impossible.

It was also curious just how good the motion data the skills were based on.

So that’s why all they focus on is building their attributes.

Even if they move poorly or recklessly, as long as they’re able to raise their attributes, they’ll be able to increase their strength. That’s why Garesto’s perspective is so different from Falandia’s despite having the same status.

It wasn’t a question of which world was better, but simply that he happened to match Falandia’s way of thinking, so he couldn’t come to terms with Garesto’s.

So I’ve been hiding the problem under the pretense it was a cultural issue, huh.
What the heck. I’m really worried now… I can’t believe even this is…

After watching how they fought, the black-clad figure suddenly face palmed and went quiet as he crouched down.

Although it wasn’t clear because he was wearing a mask, he was probably making a bitter face.

“………………………As usual, I talk to myself a lot…”

After a while, he heaved a deep sigh.
Whenever he’s alone and starts thinking about things, he can’t help but start talking to himself like this. He’s aware of it though, so every time he talks to himself, he ends up suffering a terrible pain, but since it only happens when he’s by himself, no one knows but him.

Man, I seem like such a lonely guy… I mean, I am lonely, but…

In his 2 years of travel, even if you take away the time he spent traveling with a companion, it would still amount to about a year and a half of solitude. Because of that talking to himself has already become a habit.
Even the person he knows the longest, Youko, only started following him 4 or 5 months ago.

There were barely any people I could talk to, after all.
Uwaah, now that I think back to it, wasn’t I a really scary person? Muttering to myself like that…
Ah, but I definitely didn’t do it in front of others, so… Ok, so I did do it a lot in front of creatures other than humans.

Wryly smiling, he grasped that something that flew at him.
It was a lump of fur that was hard and stiff, but he didn’t think anything of it as he stood up and threw it back where it came from.

Sorry, but can’t you accompany me in my one-on-one talk with myself?

30 pairs of eyes gleamed a red light as it recognized him for the first time, but the black figure was already running.
He jumped into the furry troop of raybeasts and slammed his fists on them, smashing the floor.

…It would be nice if I could stop getting culture shocked over and over.
I can’t believe dogs and monkeys would actually work together and attack humans.

Although he stood at the center of a troop of raybeasts, he didn’t show any hints of tension, even going as far as to mock them.
Around him were 60cm monkey-looking raybeasts with glowing bodies.
The monkey-like raybeasts had a huge mouth compared to actual monkeys, out of which sharp long fangs could be seen. They seemed like the very embodiment of ferocity.
It was a mystery whether these monkeys were actually working with the dog-class raybeasts, but there was no doubting that they would definitely meet them were to continue their way.
Which is why, he was waiting here.

This is about all I can do… Come.

Tl Note: Changed the title of the previous chapter to ‘How the Patrols Fight’ to suit this chapter’s title better.